Sensex, Nifty Close Sharply Lower on Last day of Dec F&O Expiry

The Sensex and the Nifty ended the day lower on the Last Day of F&O Expiry with the December series not being particularly profitable for the bulls.

The Sensex ended the day lower by 298 points, while the Nifty ended lower by 93 points in trade. Leading the set of gainers from the Nifty were stocks from the banking sector with several PSU banking stocks seeing some buying interest.

Grasim, IndusInd bank and NMDC were among the gainers in trade. Jindal Steel which has fallen heavily this month saw some short covering bounce and ended the day higher.

Shares in Ultratech Cement rallied more than 4 per cent after reports that the company was to buy Jaypee Cement's Plant for Rs 5400 crores.

SpiceJet rallied for a third straight day as investor interest in the stock continued following hopes that the co-promoter Sanjay Singh would pump money in the airline.

Reliance Capital and Max India both gained ground after the cabinet decided on an ordinance for passing 49 per cent insurance in FDI.

Meanwhile, markets in Asia mostly ended the day higher led by strong gains in the Japanese Nikkei and the Singapore's Strait Times.